Important Information about Your Drinking Water
/Turbidity Treatment Requirements Not Met
Lummi Island Scenic Estates Community Club (LISECC) ID #43290 - Whatcom County
We routinely monitor your water for turbidity (cloudiness). A water sample taken July 19, 2020 showed levels of 1.14 turbidity units. This was above the standard of 1.0 units. Because of these high levels of turbidity, there is an increased chance that the water may contain disease-causing organisms.
Water samples for July 2020 also showed that 15.4 percent of turbidity measurements were over 0.3 turbidity units – the standard is that no more than 5 percent of samples may exceed 0.3 turbidity units per month. The turbidity levels are relatively low. However, their persistence is a concern.
What should I do?
You do not need to boil your water or take other corrective actions. However, if you have specific health concerns, consult your doctor.
People with severely compromised immune systems, infants, and some elderly may be at increased risk. These people should seek advice about drinking water from their health care providers. General guidelines on ways to lessen the risk of infection by microbes are available from the EPA Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1 (800) 426-4791.
What does this mean?
Turbidity has no health effects. However, turbidity can interfere with disinfection and provide a medium for microbial growth. Turbidity may indicate the presence of disease causing organisms. These organisms include bacteria, virus, and parasites that can cause symptoms such as nausea, cramps, diarrhea, and associated headaches. The symptoms above are not caused only by organisms in drinking water. If you experience any of these symptoms and they persist, you may want to seek medical advice.
What about COVID-19?
The virus that causes COVID-19 has not been detected in drinking water. The Office of Drinking Water at the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) and public water system operators work every day to protect public water supplies from bacteriological and viral contamination. We use chlorine to disinfect your water. Chlorine is very effective in killing coronaviruses. COVID-19 is caused by a coronavirus and the DOH believes chlorine is effective in killing the COVID-19 coronavirus as well.
What happened?
At the beginning of July we started using a new coagulant that showed promising results in the lab tests. Unfortunately this coagulant did not perform well in practice, and caused the higher turbidity levels that resulted in this violation. After adjusting dosage and other variables, we stopped using this coagulant and turbidity has remained well below violation levels since July 21.
What is being done?
We developed a plan for water system treatment improvements in January, 2020, and we contracted with Wilson Engineering in April to provide engineering services. Interim improvements to the treatment plant are now complete. We are also communicating updates and receiving advice from DOH as we work under a Formal Compliance Agreement to return to compliance with water system regulations.
Please share this information with other people who drink your water (for example, tenants and guests).
For more information, please contact Kevin Southworth, Operations Manager
phone: (360) 758-7055
email: kevin@lisecc.com
mailing address: 1211 Island Drive, Lummi Island, WA 98262
